Saban says it's 'painful' to see division in United States

Alabama head coach Nick Saban arrives with his team at Vanderbilt Stadium in Nashville, Tenn. on Saturday September 23, 2017.

TUSCALOOSA – Nick Saban says he’s just a football coach – but he also is opinionated.

So when the Alabama head coach was asked Monday about the weekend’s events involving United States president Donald Trump’s comments and the NFL players’ responses Sunday, Saban let it be known how he felt about it all.

“I don’t keep up with that stuff as much as everybody else does, especially during the season, especially when we’re playing games,” Saban said Monday. “But to me, some of the things that we do in our country, when I grew up, they were unifying events. It’s a little painful to see that those things are not so right now.”

During a rally Friday in Huntsville for state senator Luther Strange, Trump was once again critical of NFL players kneeling during the playing of the national anthem.

“Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a b—- off the field right now?’” Trump said.

On Sunday, several NFL players kneeled during the playing of the anthem. Some teams interlocked arms like the Jacksonville Jaguars and others like the Tennessee Titans didn’t come on the field during the national anthem.

College players aren’t on the field during the national anthem. So even if a college player wanted to kneel, he couldn’t because teams don’t come on the field until after the anthem is played.

Tide junior running back Damien Harris declined to offer his opinion about the situation.

“I don’t really have (an opinion),” Harris said. “Everyone is entitled to their own opinion.”

Tide junior left guard Ross Pierschbacher said he has an opinion, but is choosing to “take the high road.”

Saban said he respects everyone’s right “not to be censored in terms of the way they express their beliefs.” Saban reiterated he’s just a coach, but continued to voice his opinion on much-debated topic.

“I don’t have the answers to all the questions,” Saban said. “I know that most good things come out of love, respect, compassion and unifying people and most bad things come out of hate and dislike and deceit. Hopefully, we can sort of focus on the above, not the below.”

The top-ranked Crimson Tide (4-0, 1-0) will play Ole Miss (2-1) in its SEC home opener Saturday. The Rebels are coming off a bye week.